Talk
by RainbowPirouette
Summary: Buffy becomes suspicious of Cyrus's behavior and begins to try to find out what's going on. Cyrus is getting tired of hiding but isn't ready to talk.
1. AUTHOR

**Author's Note:**

Hey guys! RainbowPirouette here.

Just wanted you guys to get to know me a bit better since despite being a member on this website for a couple of years, this is my first story on this site. I'm not much of a writer, I know.

I'm French. I'm from Orléans, France (The Old one, not the New one in the U.S. lol). I've lived in the U.S. for awhile but my English still isn't the best. So I do encourage constructive criticism, advice and help. Please be respectful and kind.

I'm not a writer nor am I a native English speaker, but here I am trying to write a story in English! Woe is me lol

The meaning behind my user name: I like rainbows and I like ballet. Yeah, that's basically it behind my name on here

I'm a big fan of Andi Mack, and a Jyrus shipper. I haven't seen a show this good on Disney in quite a while.

Everyone have a good day or night!


	2. Alone

"Actually I was hoping that I could talk to Andi," Jonah Beck paused. "Alone."

I didn't want to leave, but Buffy pulled me away. I wanted to talk to Jonah Beck… Jonah… Alone. I reluctantly walked outside with Buffy.

"What goes on inside your head when you see Jonah?" Buffy stopped walking and asked me.

"What do you mean?" I started to feel nervous.

"Oh I don't know… Just how you always seem so nervous and awkward around him."

"W-when am I not nervous or awkward?" I tried to sway the conversation.

"Good point. But when you're around Jonah it just intensifies. More nervous, more awkward. Are you intimidated by him or something?" She crossed her arms.

"N-no, I don't think so. He's just Jonah Beck, err… Jonah. My best guy friend. My Vest Friend…" I lifted the Space Otters jersey I was given tonight.

"I'll accept that answer, for now." She started walking again.

I let out a small sigh of relief. I wonder what Andi and Jonah are talking about. Why couldn't I be there? Not even Buffy could be there.

"What do you think Andi and Jonah are talking about?" My voice cracked on Jonah's name.

"Who knows. But I know Andi will tell us. Maybe Jonah is going to reveal how he feels about Andi. Which would be about time; took him long enough." Buffy glanced over at me. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"Uh… I don't-don't know…" I looked down at my feet. "Perhaps a reveal of feelings is going on."

"Hmm." Buffy kept looking forward. "I'll see you later Cyrus." She walked on to her street, I kept on walking to my house. Alone.


	3. Strange Feeling

After I got home I got a group text from Andi and Buffy.

Andi: _Omg! You guys will never guess!_  
Buffy: _What? Spill it!_

I sat there reading the texts. I wanted to respond, but for some reason I couldn't. Too tired, I guess.

Andi: _Jonah BROKE UP with Amber!_

Suddenly I felt lighter and I smiled. I was about to type a response at that point when Andi sent another text.

Andi: _AND HE ASKED ME OUT!_

Suddenly my phone wouldn't stop buzzing and everything got heavy again.

Buffy: _Really!? Tell me everything! Tell me you said yes! You said yes, right?  
_ Andi: _I'll tell you more in person, but YES! I still feel a little shaky. It doesn't feel real! I was so nervous!_  
Buffy: _I bet! I'm so excited for you guys! We've been waiting so long! Better late than never. #Jandi_  
Andi: _Yes!_

At that point I turned my phone off and put it aside. I went upstairs and laid on my bed. This doesn't feel right, I should be happy for Andi. I need to support her. She's one of my best friends. But… Jonah… I don't know what I'm feeling. Strange. I feel strange.

The next thing I know, my eyes are tearing up and I try to wipe them before any fall. But more and more came. Do any other guys feel this way? I mean, I know I'm not exactly "boyly," but guys can cry too, right? Right? Wait, why am I crying?

I felt tempted to go get my phone and read the texts again. When I got up to go get my phone, my mom walked in.

"Honey? Everything alright?" She asked like the mixture of a mother and psychiatrist she is.

"Uh… Yeah. Yeah, mom. Everything's fine." I immediately turned my head so she couldn't see my face and I tried not sniffle.

"Are you sure? Doesn't seem like it. Want to talk?" She walked a bit closer to me.

"Yeah, I'm sure," I sniffled. "There's nothing to talk about. I think I'm just going to go take a shower and go to sleep." I glanced over at her, hoping she would go away, at least for the night.

"Well, I'm here for when you do want to talk. I'm always here for you. I love you, sleep well." She turned and walked over to the door.

"I love you too, mom."

I took my shower and laid back down. I just stared at the ceiling, it felt like time stopped. My eyes were now dry, and all I wanted to do was sleep. The last time I looked at the clock, it was 4:42am. What was on my mind? Jonah. Finally, I fell asleep.


	4. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

" _Actually, I was hoping I could talk to Cyrus," Jonah paused. "Alone."_

 _Buffy pulled Andi away and they walked outside._

" _I broke up with Amber." He looked at me, searching my face._

" _Oh!" I may have sounded a little too happy, so I combated that with sounding confused, "Why?"_

" _She was manipulating me, making fun of me... I couldn't take it anymore." He looked upset. "She was always jealous of Andi too, which was annoying from the start."_

 _At the mention of Andi, I felt a too familiar feeling of heaviness, "Yeah, Amber wasn't that good of a girlfriend. I'm sorry, Jonah. I hope you and Andi are good together."_

" _Me and Andi? What? She likes me?" He seemed slightly puzzled._

" _Um, yeah, she does. A lot actually…" I looked down at my feet and mumbled, "And I don't think she's the only one…."_

" _Huh, I never really noticed. Andi-man is a good friend, but I never really liked her more than that. What else did you say?"_

 _My head perked up and I felt my cheeks get warm. "Uh, nothing. Wait, if you don't like Andi 'that way' then who do you like?" I felt myself starting to slightly shake._

 _Jonah reached for my hand and held it, "Cyrus," he whispered, "I like you." His smile was so beautiful._

 _I instantly felt butterflies in my stomach and I smiled so wide. Jonah giggled and I couldn't help but giggle with him. Nothing could be better._

" _Will you be my boyfriend?"_

Suddenly, before I could answer, my alarm clock went off and I was awake. 9:30am, Saturday morning. I went back to staring at the ceiling like I did hours prior.

I like Jonah Beck.


	5. When Does Life Go To Plan?

I like Jonah. Does that make me gay? Wait, aren't I seeing Iris? So… I'm bisexual? But I don't like Iris… So I'm a gay guy seeing a girl? What? Oh crap! I was supposed to go see her today.

I force myself out of bed and got dressed. I went downstairs to be greeted by my mom.

"Hi, honey, how are you this morning?" She looked at me with concern.

"I'm alright, just had a long day yesterday." I sat down and pulled the plate of eggs in front of me.

"What happened?" She really wanted to know.

"Uh, there was a Space Otters party. I was awarded with a jersey. I got to hug Jonah…" I trailed off realizing what I was saying.

"You seem to really like Jonah. Is he nice to you?" Her voice softened.

"Yeah, yeah of course. He's my best guy friend." I started to feel nervous again.

"So why were you crying?" Her voice still soft.

I didn't want to admit it, I wasn't even totally sure of myself yet… but I was talking to my mom.

"Uh…" I got quiet, "he asked Andi out…" I mumbled.

"Oh, I see." She didn't seem to know what to say.

Oh no. Telling her was probably a mistake. My face was hot and I started to feel sick.

"I'm not hungry anymore." I pushed my plate away and got up and headed towards the front door.

"Okay, honey. Dinner will be a seven. Anything in particular you want?" She followed me into the living room.

"Um, I guess pizza. I'll see you later, love you." I rushed out the door.

I texted Iris.  
 _Meet me in the park soon._

Iris quickly responded.  
 _Okay cutie! Can't wait!_

Oh dear, oh dear. What's going on? I made my way to the park and sat down at a near by bench. What am I going to tell her? 'Sorry, me and Andi like the same guy, we shouldn't be together.' Uh, no that's horrible. 'Sorry, I only like you as a friend.' Better. Maybe.

I sat there maybe five minutes before Iris sat down beside me.

"Hey there." She smiled.

"Huh, oh hi Iris. Want to go to take a walk?" I tried to act like nothing was wrong.

"Sure!"

We got up and started walking.

"So, um, Iris. We're good friends, right?"

"You know you can say girlfriend." Iris looked at me. Uh no.

"Huh?" I panicked, I didn't know what to say.

"Girlfriend. As in boyfriend and girlfriend. An exclusive relationship. I know you've never been in a relationship before, but you should know this." She laughed.

"Are we… in that?" Oh g-d…

"In an exclusive relationship? Well, I was hoping." Her laughter became less happy.

Suddenly, she started to lean in, lips slightly puckered. Oh hell no. No. Nope. Not happening. I stepped backed.

"What's happening?" This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"I was about to kiss you? I understand that being in a relationship is different, but just relax. If you don't want to kiss yet, that's fine." She made a reassuring smile.

She reached for my hand to hold it. I pulled it back.

"What's wrong?" She became concerned and upset.

"Uh. Um, well, you see…" I forgot what I was going to say.

"Is there something wrong with me?" Oh dear.

"No, no, you're a good person and all…" That didn't help at all.

"Are you breaking up with me? What did I do?" Oh no, she's tearing up.

"Nothing. It's me, not you." That was bad, too cliché and bad. That didn't help.

"Seriously? You're going to say that?" Now I think she sounds a bit mad.

"I-I'm not good with this, I'm sorry. I just don't feel the same way… I didn't want to upset you. You're a nice person and deserve to be with someone who feels the same way." I hope that was better.

"Who is she?" What.

"Who?" I'm puzzled.

"The girl you like instead." Oh come on.

I looked at the ground and I felt my face starting to burn. I really don't know what to say. What am I supposed to say?

"Well?" She was persistent. "Oh my God. Is it Andi?" Huh.

"Huh? No. I don't like Andi like that. She's one of my best friends, we're part of the Good Hair Crew. She's more of a sister to me."

"Buffy?"

"Again, no. Also one of my best friends; part of the Good Hair Crew too, more like a sister to me."

"Hmm… Oh God. Amber?" Gross.

"Definitely not. Between you and me, she's a bit bitchy."

She sort of laughed, "True, 'a bit' is kind of an understatement though."

I smiled a little, still glancing at the ground.

"So, who is it?"

I looked up at her. Should I really say? No. She's close to Amber. Amber's a bitch. She can't be the first peer of mine to know.

"Uh, well…" My mind was drawing a blank.

"Um," she paused, "is the person even a girl?" WHAT.

"Huh?" I felt like a deer in the headlights.

"Well, you are a bit… feminine. Like a stereotypical gay guy. There's nothing wrong with that of course. Straight guys can be feminine too. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

"I'm not offended, just taken back a little. Didn't expect you to ask that, that's all." I'm starting to sweat a bit.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I get it. I'm sorry, I'm just upset." She started to turn away, "I should probably get going. Amber wanted me to go with her to the mall later."

"Okay, I'll see you around some time?"

"Sure. See ya, Cyrus." She started to walk away.

That didn't go as planned at all. But then again, when does life ever go to plan?


	6. What If?

I decided to walk around a little bit more to think by myself.

Am I supposed to tell people? Does anyone assume it? Iris did question it, so she can't be the only one, can she? Do I tell Andi? Jonah? Buffy? I don't think I'm ready. Should I just not say anything ever and just hide that part of myself? What if I start to get bullied horribly?

What if Andi finds out? How would she react? We like the same guy, so would that make her uncomfortable? I really like Jonah, but Andi is my best friend.

What if Jonah finds out? How does he feel about guys? What if he thinks I'm gross? What if it makes him so uncomfortable that he doesn't want to be my friend anymore? I care about him immensely, I don't want to risk our friendship for a relationship that can never be.

What if Buffy finds out? Would she think I'm weirder than she already thinks? Would she think that I would try to take Jonah away from Andi? What does she even think of guys who like guys?

I can't. I can't tell anyone. Should I take this to the grave? How would I live a normal life? Be married to a woman who in my heart I care about but don't love in a way that a man should love his wife? Or should I move away and start anew to find a different man who would actually want to be with me as well?

Am I getting a little extreme? Probably, yeah. But I never thought about this before. I mean, guys have always been attractive to me, and girls were always just friends, but I never thought about actually being gay. It never occurred to me that not everyone was like that.

Is this feeling normal? Does anyone else feel this way? Obviously there are many LGBT out there in the world, but do any of them feel this way? There has to be.

And how long have I been walking around aimlessly around this park?

I took out my phone and checked the time. 11:35 Am. I've been out here for quite a while. My stomach growled. I didn't really get much of a breakfast and I've been using energy basically on nothing. Baby taters sound good – I'm going to the Spoon.

While walking towards the Spoon from the park, I see an all too familiar face on the field. Uh no.

Jonah.

I shouldn't go talk to him, so why did I start walking towards him? Not cool, legs. I kept getting closer and closer. Finally Jonah looked up at me.

"Yo, Cy-guy!" He waved.

"Uh, h-hey…" I tried to appear upbeat. I think I failed.

"What's up, man?"

"Um, nothing much… bro?" Wow I suck at trying to act cool.

"Everything okay? I saw Iris walking towards town earlier. She seemed upset." Great. Just great.

"I—I might have ended things with her? It just wasn't working out…" I looked around, not wanting to look at Jonah in the eyes.

"Oh. Well there's a somebody for everybody. You'll find yours. Don't sweat it." He had a reassuring smile.

"Uh, yeah. Someday, I guess."

"I broke up with Amber, so I get how break ups can go."

"Y-yeah. Sorry about what happened, by the way. You deserve someone better than Amber, anyway."

"It's all good man. Didn't Andi tell you yet? We're going out on a date." Why did it have to come to this?

"Oh, y-yeah. Um, I gotta go now. Bye Jonah." I looked down, my cheeks turning pink. I walked away in a rush.

"Bye Cyrus?" He sounded sort of hurt. "I'll text you later." He yelled out to me.

I could feel the tears coming again. Instead of going to the Spoon, I went back home.


	7. Conversate

Upon entering my house, my mom was on the couch. While I previously wiped the couple of tears on my face off, it was still obvious that I was crying.

"Hi, honey. What happened?" There's that mixture of mother and psychiatrist again.

"Erm, what do you mean?" I tried to play dumb.

"You look like you've been crying again. Did something happen with Jonah?" She sees right through me.

"Well first I ended whatever was happening with me and Iris. She's definitely not happy. She questioned who I liked, and then finally asked if that person was even a girl. She apologized afterwards so I dodged a bullet there. But then after taking a walk by myself I ran into Jonah… And, well, then we briefly discussed breakups and he mentioned that he was going out with Andi." I rambled, my voice shaky. It feels so weird talking about this out loud.

My mom sat there patiently, listening though. After I was done rambling for a few minutes, she finally spoke up, "Why not tell him? You know, so you can get it off your chest and maybe he'll talk about his dating life less?"

"…Mom… I don't think so. I don't know how he would react. I don't want him thinking that I was disgusting or weird 'in a bad way' or anything like that. I don't want to risk my friendship with him. I'd only tell him if I knew I had an actual chance with him, or at least knew that he was cool with being friends with a guy who likes guys and is cool with me liking him." I sighed.

"Well if he's as cool as you say he is, then I doubt something bad like what you're saying would happen. He sounds like a pretty open-minded boy, I'm sure things would be fine." She tried to reassure me.

"I know… but I can't get past these 'what-ifs' that keep popping up in my mind. I haven't even told Buffy and Andi yet. No one knows but you, mom. And I was and am terrified mentioning anything like this to you. I don't want to be disowned…"

My mom cut me off, "I would never disown you. You're my son; my baby. I don't want you hurting. I just want you happy and healthy. I know getting past the 'what-ifs' is hard, but look, you're talking to me about it, and I love you just as much as I did yesterday. Nothing much has changed, all I now know is that one day I'll have a son-in-law instead of a daughter-in-law, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Talk to your friends when you're ready, you don't have to push it, but I know you're friends with some really great kids, and I know they'll love you just as much as they do now."

My mom hugged me and I could feel my eyes watering yet again.

"Mom, what about my dad? Or my step-dad? And my step-mom? Do I need to be worried about them if I ever told them or they found out?"

"No, I don't think so. We may have our disagreements, but I know your step-dad, father, and step-mother all care about you a lot."

"I'm glad…" I looked down. My stomach grumbled.

"Still haven't eaten? I thought you would've gone to the Spoon."

"I was going to, until I talked to Jonah." I exhaled.

"Well go hang out with your friends, I'm sure they would be up for some baby taters. Still want pizza tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll text Buffy. And absolutely, pizza is always good." I get up to go to my room for a bit to charge my phone and text Buffy.

 _Hey, how's my favorite vampire slayer?_ I texted her.

Buffy replied within seconds. _Really? I'm gonna ignore the vampire slayer part. I'm alright. Are you okay?_

How do I respond…? _I'm good. Fantastic. Never better. The best I ever was, ya know? Haha_

Buffy, still quick to respond: _Well, that was a bit over the top. Something's gotta be wrong. Do I need to come over?_

I can't act "cool" can I? _Yeah, that would cool. Then go to the Spoon?_

 _On my way._ Buffy was always good about texting back fast and being there for her friends. I'm glad to have her.

Fifteen minutes later she was at my house.

"Hey, so what's up?" So the interrogation begins.

"Uh, nothing. Just not feeling well today." Where's the lie there?

"You're not feeling well, but you want to eat?"

"I'm hungry. Yeah, I want to eat."

"So what part of you isn't feeling well?"

"My head, my chest," I thought for a moment of what I could say, "Iris and I broke up."

"Ohh, why didn't you just say so? I'm so sorry Cyrus." She walked up to me and gave me a hug.

"I, uh, didn't want to talk about it. Not… my type, of thing, I mean." I laughed nervously.

"Well, let's go to the Spoon and get some baby taters." She started walking towards the door and I followed.

The walk there was fine. The interrogation has seemed to have stopped. For now at least. We walked into the diner and sat down, and ordered our food and drinks. Everything was going alright. She talked about her and Marty, and I talked about my upcoming projects for school. It was normal conversations between us.

Then Andi and Jonah walked in.

"Hey Buffy! Hey Cyrus!" Andi excitedly greeted us.

"Yo Buffy! 'Sup Cy-man? Feeling better, dude?"

Well, I was feeling better briefly.

I immediately felt heavy and my eyes were burning. I tried my best to fake a good smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." My voice cracked on 'fine.'

Andi and Cyrus sat down with us.

"It's great running into you guys here!" Andi sounded so happy.

"Definitely!" Buffy responded.

"Yeah." My voice was melancholic.

"Now you don't sound fine." Jonah looked at me. "Wanna go talk for a bit?" He gestured towards the door. I really did want to talk to him, but what could I say?

"Uh, err, no, I'm fine. I just want to finish my milkshake and taters." I looked down at my food.

Everybody at the table looked at me. I just rejected an invite to talk to Jonah privately. Now they definitely know something's wrong. Jonah and Andi looked upset. Buffy looked upset too, but also with an eye of suspicion. Great.

"Oh, alright dude. Well we're all here if you need to talk."

I mostly sat in silence well everyone else talked; eating my baby taters and drinking my milkshake slowly. Soon Andi and Jonah left and it was just me and Buffy again.

"Aren't you happy for Andi?" Whoop, there it is. More interrogation.

"Yeah." I looked down.

"It doesn't really seem like it. Is it because you just broke up with Iris?" She questioned farther, "Wait, who broke up with who?"

"I broke up with her." I confessed that much.

"Oh. Do you like Andi?" I should've seen that coming a mile away.

"Iris asked me that too," I said while getting up from my seat, "and no I don't."

Before I could be asked anymore questions, I was out the door. I was done with questions for the day. I turned my phone off and walked home. Once home, I took a nap until dinner. Best pizza ever.


	8. After Pizza

After pizza, I went to go lay down and watch some TV and read a little. After a while, my step-dad was knocking on my door.

"Hey, bud." He stepped in.

"Hey." I sat up.

"Everything going alright?" Uh no.

"Yeah… why?" Hello interrogation, my old friend.

"Your mother told me you were having a hard time with your friends about something. Want to talk?" Why does my mom do this?

"Um, no, not really. I don't think you'd understand, anyway."

"I think I know what this is about. You're growing up. Things are changing. Feelings are coming about. It's just puberty. You're going to notice a lot of changes-"

"Mitch! No not that talk! Mom already gave me that talk two years ago."

"Oh, I was just going to go more into the emotional part of it, not the sexual maturation that most parents go into. You're at the age were people start developing crushes and start wanting to date and such. Girls starting to like boys, boys starting to like girls." He stopped for a moment and continued, "And let's not forget the girls who like girls and boys who like boys." He looked at me. "And not everyone who you like is going to like you back, and it'll hurt. A lot, even. Feelings can be confusing and along with it, there will be strong emotions. Think of it as two sides of the same coin. Anyway, what I'm saying is whether what you're feeling is platonic or romantic, for a girl or a boy… we're here for you. We've all went through growing up. You have your mom, me, your father and step-mom. None of us want to see you struggle and we're here to help. Just remember you have your family and you got some pretty cool friends. Please don't feel like you're alone, son."

I really have no idea how to respond to that. "Thank you, Mitch." I hope that would suffice.

"Anytime, Cyrus." He started to get up and go towards the door. "Good night."

"Night."

I laid back down. I wonder what Mitch was thinking or what he knows. How much did my mom tell him? Or was that all him just being a concerned step-father? I turned to my side and grabbed my phone to turn it back on. I wonder what I missed.

 _5 Missed Calls_  
 _1 Voicemail  
8 Texts_

All from Buffy. Uh oh. I decided to listen to the voicemail first.

" _Cyrus, what's going on? You know you're worrying me, and now Andi and Jonah are worrying. Just talk to us. I have a feeling this isn't actually about you and Iris's breakup. If anything happened you know we're here."_

I feel awful. I opened up the texts.

 _Cyrus, where did you go? Answer the phone please.  
What happened? Cyrus?_

 _There's no way your breakup could affect you this much. You never really seemed to like her that much anyway.  
Cyrus? Dude?  
I ran into Jonah and Andi again, they're worried too.  
We're here for you, just answer your phone.  
We hope you respond soon. We hope you don't do anything bad towards yourself.  
Call back, anytime. Day or night. I'm spending the night at Andi's, we're gonna be up all night anyways so don't worry about waking anyone up._

I looked at the time. 12:42PM. Well, she did say anytime… I at least should tell her I'm okay and didn't do anything bad, right?

I called her, and the phone didn't even ring twice before she answered.

"Cyrus!? What happened? Are you okay?" Her voice was panicked.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. Sorry I didn't get your texts or calls until now, I turned my phone off and went home." I tried to sound normal as possible.

"Why did you leave so fast?"

"I just didn't want to talk anymore, I'm sorry. I wanted to go home and relax."

I could hear Buffy exhale. "Just say so next time. 'I don't want to talk right now, I'll see you later.' Or just text that if you really don't feel like talking. You've been acting strange lately and we're just worried."

"I understand. Don't worry, I've been talking to my mom and step-dad. I just don't want to bother you guys with my problems."

"You don't bother us. We just want to know what's going on; what's going through your mind, ya know?"

I sighed, "Yeah I know that, but I'm not ready to talk about that yet. Please respect that. I just want things to go back to normal. How things used to be."

"Nothing much is different. We're all still here. Me, Andi, and Jonah. Talk when you're ready."

"Thanks, I think I'm going to go to sleep soon. I'll talk to you guys later. Tell Andi I said hi and that I'm sorry for making you guys worry."

"Alright, I will. Good night, Cyrus."

"Good night, guys."

I hung up the phone and put it to the side. 1:13AM. Time to go to sleep.


	9. A Bit of Relief

It's been a few days since I called Buffy to let everyone know I was okay. I didn't see anyone the day after since I decided to stay home. Days after that, my interactions were brief.

I ran into Andi and Buffy at the Spoon when I was picking up some food for me and my mom. To say the least, it was a bit awkward. I could tell they wanted to ask questions. Buffy eyed me suspiciously while Andi had pure worry on her face. I tried to act as normal as possible. I think by the end of our interaction they bought into it. Which I do feel bad for deceiving them, but I don't want them to worry about me. There's nothing they can do to help.

The day after that I ran into Jonah while walking through town. I was my usual nervousness around him. He seemed pretty happy when he noticed I was my usual self and not upset. Seeing him smile made me smile.

Today though I'm going to be actually hanging out with my friends again. It's been weird barely seeing them, but I really needed a few days mostly devoted to myself.

Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass… and I really need to stay off the internet. Anyway, I finally reached the Spoon and walked in.

"Hey guys!" I exclaimed upon seeing Andi and Buffy.

"Hey!" Andi and Buffy said at the same time.

"Hey!" A too familiar voice said behind me.

I turned around. "Oh, h-hey Jonah…" I had no idea he would joining us as well.

Buffy and Andi sat next down to each other, and I sat next to Jonah. Nervousness setting in. I looked down at the menus given to us. Of course we order the same thing every time, but yet they still give us menus…

It must've been obvious that I was lost in meaningless thought because Jonah tapped on my arm.

"Hey, man, are you alright? You're zoning out." He looked at me, as well as Andi and Buffy. My arm tingled.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm good. Everything's allll goood." I laughed.

Buffy's suspicious and Andi's and Jonah's worried looks returned. Oh shiitake mushrooms…

"Hey, Cyrus, can I talk to you? Outside?" Jonah turned to me.

I looked to Buffy and Andi. "Y-yeah, sure thing, Jonah." We got up and walked outside.

He spoke up, "Do you hate me?" What? He looked hurt.

"What do you mean?" Now I feel horrible.

"Lately you seem to keep our interactions brief and you always seem out of it or upset when I'm around. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, you didn't do anything. I'm sorry." I looked down. Seems like I've been doing a lot of that these days.

"Why are you sorry?"

"For making you feel like you did something wrong." I glanced up at him.

"It's alright. I—we just want to know what's wrong. I don't want to bother you about it though, but if there's anything I can do, I'm here for you, Cy-guy."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you." I smiled.

"Hey, how about we hang out sometime?"

Suddenly I was discombobulated. "You mean the two of us? Together?"

He laughed. "Yeah, of course. Have you ever been skateboarding?"

Uh-oh. "Um. You know me and sports don't really go together."

"Don't worry, I'll teach you. It'll be fun." He smiled. Oh g-d his smile.

"Y-yeah, sounds good. It'll be great."

"Great. I'll find a good day and time for us to go. I'll let you know."

We walked back inside the Spoon. I was beaming. Andi was happy, and so was Buffy, but I sensed some confusion from her.

The rest of our time together was great. It felt like old times, but better. I felt tingly inside and it was fantastic.

Soon Andi had to go home, and so did Jonah. Buffy looked at me.

"I think I might know what's going on now."

"What do you mean?"

"You like Jonah, don't you?"

"Pshhh, whaaat? Nooo. What gives you that idea?" I tried to laugh it off.

"Exactly how you're acting right now. And how you acted when Andi started seeing Jonah. And how after you talked to Jonah a little while ago, you were the happiest you've been in a long time. Not to mention how you've always acted around him since you met him. It all makes sense now." She sat there pleased with herself.

I just stared at her. This isn't something I wanted to admit right now.

"How come you didn't want any of us to know?" She seemed to quiet down. I just kept looking at her. I feel anxious now, but I'm afraid if I say anything, my eyes would start to burn. She spoke again, "Cyrus? Are you okay? It's okay that you like Jonah," she paused again, "No one else knows. Not Andi, not Jonah. I can't say if they assume it or not, but no one has said anything… If that's what you're worried about."

All I did was look at her. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not now.

"Are you going to say anything?" She was concerned.

I shook my head no.

"I wasn't supposed to say anything, was I?"

I nodded slowly.

"I'm very sorry, Cyrus. I thought you'd feel better knowing that someone close to you knew. So you would feel like you had a friend to talk to. So you'd feel like you weren't hiding from everyone."

I shrugged, looking down at the table.

"Just know you have nothing to be ashamed of. Andi's mom is bisexual, and Jonah has two aunts married to each other." How does she know that?

I looked up at her confused. She must've got what I meant.

"I may look through FacePages of mutual friends from time to time. You wouldn't believe some of the stuff I find on people." She laughed. "But the people closest to you would most definitely be fine with your sexuality."

I felt some relief, but I still didn't want to say anything.

"Ready to go home, I'm guessing?"

I nodded.

She added, "Is everything okay at home?"

I nodded again.

"Okay good. I'm here for you, Cyrus. I'm sorry for bringing it up the way I did. Talk to me when you're ready, I hope you don't hate me."

I don't hate anyone close to me. I got up and walked with Buffy until we had to go our separate ways to get home.

Once I was in my room, I texted Buffy.

 _I don't hate you. I'm not mad either. I just didn't know what to say, I'm sorry._

Not even a minute later she replied.

 _It's okay Cyrus. Have a good night._

I texted her good night and turned off my phone.

I actually felt a bit of relief.


End file.
